NEW ARTICLE: We're gonna party like its 1863.....(Woolwich & Plumstead remix)

Whilst i develop RSI from overuse of the Bold Button, Charlton Villager goes for a serious drink.....

Grab your top hat, and of course your cloak and cane, and come with me on a pub crawl around Woolwich and Plumstead of 1863. You may wish to bring some nosegay in your hanky to ward off the evil smells of the River Thames, or other pub dwellers body odour.

Some premises have the nice new gaslight but others still have old oil lamps or smelly candles. Rather than walking along the rat infested streets, strewn with muck, rubbish and other peoples excrement I thought we might ride in those nice Hackney carriages pulled by two fine black horses. As Dickens might have said “Let’s have a drink and get Oliver Twist” Perhaps by chance we may meet some pretty ladies in their long frilly dresses with adorable coloured petticoats. It will be a splendid evening, there will be plenty to discuss as we trip from inn to inn.

For example this new game of football and Notts County Football Club that was formed last year. Thank god they are beginning to sort out the rules of this silly football game. Talking of football. The top news in 1863 has to be Blackheath leaving the Football Association to take up another new sport called Rugby. Surely, that leaves the way open for another club to evolve in the same area maybe from the thousands of workers at the Woolwich Arsenal or all those factories along the Woolwich Road in Charlton. Who knows??

Of course, football and rugby will never catch on. Horse Racing and Cricket is and always will be the Englishman’s pastimes. Other things up for discussion could be Yorkshire CCC played its initial first-class match v. Surrey at the Oval on 4, 5 & 6 June. 1863. It was a rain-affected draw, evenly balanced or maybe we could talk about the formation of Hampshire and Middlesex Cricket Clubs this year.

What a horse that Macaroni is? It has to be voted the horse of the year 1863. It won the Derby, 2000 guineas and the Doncaster Cup. A true bred British stallion.Other items of interest to be discussed maybe Edward Prince of Wales who could be King Edward the seventh when the good Queen Victoria dies married Princess Alexandra of Denmark. The Metropolitan Railway opened London's first underground line or President Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address as the American Civil War drags on and on.

Those Americans should have stayed as a colony of Great Britain and the Empire. Give them a little freedom and they start fighting each other. In years to come I suppose we will have to bail them out time and again. God knows what will happen if a big war or two comes along.

Raise your glasses and enjoy a drink of ale and nostalgia in your favourite watering hole.(Many of the pubs mentioned below have long since disappeared because of economic changes. Some of the streets have also disappeared thanks to the Luftwaffe and “intelligent” council planning.)A SURVEY OF PUBLIC HOUSES IN WOOLWICH AND PLUMSTEAD 1863

HIGH STREET WOOLWICHMARQUIS OF GRANBYROYAL STANDARDGEORGE AND DRAGONDUKE ON HORSEBACKPIERCROWN AND CUSHIONCROWN AND ANCHORCOOPERS ARMSMITRESHIP AND HALF MOONBELLSTEAM PACKET

Seemed to have missed the Prince Rupert in Robert Street and the Roses in Brewery Road.

but were they there in 1863?

I remember a lot of the pubs named but having moved away many years ago now I've no idea (apart from the Shooters Hill ones) which are closed and which remain open. From what I'm told and have read most of the Woolwich ones have gone.

I'd just like to point out that the year before your pub crawl, 1862, Blackheath CC was formed and we celebrate our 150th anniversary this year. As a member for over 30 years and a Honorary Vice President of the club this is a very proud year for me.

I'd just like to point out that the year before your pub crawl, 1862, Blackheath CC was formed and we celebrate our 150th anniversary this year. As a member for over 30 years and a Honorary Vice President of the club this is a very proud year for me.

...for he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow... and so say all of us!

I remember going in the Dover Castle - Plumstead High Street, the bouncer charging me 50p to go in (around 1988) - must have been good.. Knocked down now though, for a college building or the mosque/temple perhaps. (I can't quite place where it was). I went to a party in the Star at the top of Thomas Street. That seemed to be quite a lively place. Shut now, but I think the building is still there.

I remember going in the Dover Castle - Plumstead High Street, the bouncer charging me 50p to go in (around 1988) - must have been good.. Knocked down now though, for a college building or the mosque/temple perhaps. (I can't quite place where it was). I went to a party in the Star at the top of Thomas Street. That seemed to be quite a lively place. Shut now, but I think the building is still there.

The Star is still there but boarded up. The MOD bought it and closed it down as there was so much aggro with squadies in there.

Plumstead Common Windmill was marked on the 1819-43 Ordnance Survey map. In 1827, there was an accident at the mill when so many people crowded onto the stage to watch a sham fight that it gave way, injuring a number of them. In 1848, the mill was converted into a brewhouse, having been disused for a number of years previously.[1] The tower remains today, as part of the Old Mill pub.

How ironic. The pub still stages sham fights and was last decorated in 1849.